Harvey W. Kaufman, MD, on Cotesting for Cervical Cancer

A study of 9-year cotest results performed by Quest Diagnostics confirmed the value of the liquid-based (Papanicolaou) cytology element in cotesting for cervical cancer.

The results, published in the American Journal of Clinical Pathology, demonstrated that the rates of positive cervical screening test results with both liquid-based cytology and HPV testing decline as the interval between cotesting and cotesting preceding cervical cancer (CxCa) diagnosis increases.

“This study and all previous large US cotesting studies have shown that both abnormal cytologic and HPV-positive test results decline progressively as time before CxCa diagnoses increases, most likely due to smaller lesional size and increased difficulty in sampling infected lesional cells,” the authors wrote.

Notably, these findings contradict the newly updated guidelines released by the American Cancer Society, which suggest the use of primary HPV testing and the phasing out of cytology and cotesting.

In an interview with CancerNetwork®, Harvey W. Kaufman, MD, senior medical director and director of the Health Trends Research Program at Quest Diagnostics, discussed the study findings and what he believes should be recommended regarding cervical cancer screening.

This segment comes from the CancerNetwork® portion of the MJH Life Sciences Medical World News, airing daily on all MJH Life Sciences channels.

Reference:

Kaufman HW, Alagia DP, Chen Z, Onisko A, Austin RM. Contributions of Liquid-Based (Papanicolaou) Cytology and Human Papillomavirus Testing in Cotesting for Detection of Cervical Cancer and Precancer in the United States. American Journal of Clinical Pathology. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/aqaa074.